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One photo of an IRS cafeteria overstuffed with paper shows why you haven't gotten your refund check yet — and just how underfunded the agency is
Business Insider ^ | June 14, 2022 | Juliana Kaplan

Posted on 06/18/2022 6:18:45 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?

The cafeteria of an IRS facility in Austin. Courtesy of the Treasury Department

The IRS is underfunded and understaffed, and had to deal with new pandemic responsibilities.

The result has been a massive backlog of unprocessed tax returns, many of them on paper.

A photo from the agency's Austin facility shows just how much paper the IRS is dealing with.

The IRS is still full of paper.

The agency has been contending with a historic backlog of unprocessed tax returns amidst new pandemic responsibilities, understaffing, and underfunding. The result: A massive build-up of unprocessed tax returns, many of which belong to Americans who have been waiting on refund checks.

Natasha Sarin, a tax policy and implementation counselor at the Treasury Department, shared a photo on Twitter of the cafeteria at the IRS's Austin site. In it, the room is "overrun" with paper returns awaiting employees.....

Increased funding for the IRS could make filing a lot more efficient, according to the Treasury Department. In a blog post, Sarin looked at what an "adequately funded tax administrator" might mean for filers, noting that in other countries it's free and easy to file your taxes. In Sweden, for instance, many taxpayers just have to reply "yes" to a text to confirm their filing.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: businessinsider; creepstate; deepstate; incometax; irs; julianakaplan; mediawingofthednc; nevertrump; nevertrumper; nevertrumpers; nevertrumpertrolls; notbusiness; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; policestate; ronklain; singlepartystate; taxbacklog; taxes
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The problem is not that the IRS is underfunded, it’s that the IRS is to involved in defunding you.


41 posted on 06/18/2022 6:59:18 AM PDT by dblshot
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Somehow I think if the IRS employees got charged 4% late fee plus 10 cents a day on all returns they didn’t get done on time all those things would be done by now.

By the same token, really people get off the paper. I got my return a week after I filed. Usually it’s 2 weeks. It’s the 21st century, act like it.


42 posted on 06/18/2022 6:59:40 AM PDT by discostu (like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: ClearCase_guy
And poor people pay taxes (as they should).

If that happened an overwhelming majority of Americans might start paying attention to how much money the government was wasting and that simply must not be allowed to happen.

43 posted on 06/18/2022 6:59:48 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The CPA who does our taxes and taxes for our adult off spring got filing delays from the tax vipers on our taxes until this weekend and did the others in late May/early June. We will get refunds.

He files electronically and the IRS is still behind.

This year’s taxes weighed 16 ounces for two 80 year olds with one retirement/pension, 3 Iras, 2 Social Security papers and the rest were tax deductions.

America is about 10 years behind eliminating all of the tax B$ at both levels and going to a federal and a state sales tax.


44 posted on 06/18/2022 7:01:08 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Has anyone, recehently, seen a Biden sticker on any vehicle and in particular at/in a gas station!!!)
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To: FarCenter

The IRS demanded more money for 2020 return. Cashed that within 5 days. Never sent the refund for 2019 though.


45 posted on 06/18/2022 7:02:31 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Scary thought: maybe those are ballots waiting to be stuffed in November…


46 posted on 06/18/2022 7:06:02 AM PDT by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: ridesthemiles

BY NOT PROCESSING these returns, Biden & group are holding onto $$$$$$$$$ that belongs to Americans.

IS he hiding MORE SHORTAGES?????

That is an excellent question.

Basically, every working/tax paying adult on both sides of our families have not received a single Federal $ tax refund back.

Our California families within about 2 weeks of filing got their refunds back or a bank deposit.


47 posted on 06/18/2022 7:08:19 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Has anyone, recehently, seen a Biden sticker on any vehicle and in particular at/in a gas station!!!)
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To: oldbill
While a flat tax certainly is more efficient than the current system, a national sales tax actually encourages the government to promote economic growth. When the economy is roaring, the government collects a healthy share of the proceeds; when the economy is in the doldrums, the government has to do with less, which might make it more apt to pursue sensible and successful economic policies.

It's also more equitable for the consumer. Someone with the wherewithall to dine on lobster three times a week is going to be paying a heftier tax bill than members of the Top Ramen set will be paying. It has that "fairness" thing the politicians are always yammering about built right in.

48 posted on 06/18/2022 7:08:30 AM PDT by JennysCool ("It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." - Mark Twain)
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To: ridesthemiles

They do actually pay interest on late refunds. 5% interest paid starting 45 days after the filing deadline.


49 posted on 06/18/2022 7:09:08 AM PDT by gunnut
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

later


50 posted on 06/18/2022 7:09:20 AM PDT by Jane Austen (Neo-cons are liberal Democrats who love illegal aliens and war.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

later


51 posted on 06/18/2022 7:09:20 AM PDT by Jane Austen (Neo-cons are liberal Democrats who love illegal aliens and war.)
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To: Made In The USA

The state of California says up to 3 months to process paper returns and 2 weeks electronic. If given a notice you owe money they give you 1 month to send the check.

If you send the check right away I am betting that you will have your bank account seized to pay as they have no record of you sending it in as it has not been processed yet AND then months later they will cash your check and you will then have to take months to get your money back!

Now the IRS will take years....


52 posted on 06/18/2022 7:09:47 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The pandemic has just given them 1000 reasons to NOT WORK.
My January paper return is still unprocessed.


53 posted on 06/18/2022 7:11:37 AM PDT by George from New England
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To: skeeter

On top of that, remember all the agents they hired to implement the Obamacare mandates? Obviously those aren’t needed so they can be working on the returns.


54 posted on 06/18/2022 7:12:07 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: airborne

The carts in the photo look homemade. I imagine many times the paper seen is spilled all over just moving the carts.


55 posted on 06/18/2022 7:12:14 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

And those are just the ones where they owe YOU money.


56 posted on 06/18/2022 7:12:30 AM PDT by firebrand
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

At least 90% of taxpayers should NEVER need to get a refund. If people would simply calculate their estimated taxes owed midyear, then can then adjust withholding so as to OWE a bit of money, rather than wait and wait for a refund, something I’ve managed to do nearly every year.

...obviously for people who cannot accurately estimate what their income will be (such as business owners) will have more trouble doing the above.


57 posted on 06/18/2022 7:12:35 AM PDT by BobL (My hatred of Necons/Globalists exceeds my love of Ukraine or any other country, other than the US)
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To: discostu

“By the same token, really people get off the paper. “

I disagree, by filing electronically you make it easy for the GVT to demand more information to intrude in our lives. So I file by paper 20+ sheets, I can wait on the refund.

However, my grade school daughter get social security so I file taxes in her name, 1 or 2 pages, but IRS will not allow it to be filed electronically, has to mailed.


58 posted on 06/18/2022 7:13:46 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

My solution to the refund problem is not to apply for a refund at all; instead, I simply apply any refund to the estimated tax payments I would otherwise be making in the following year.


59 posted on 06/18/2022 7:15:09 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: mowowie

I’ve heard the same from a few other sources. As with all government agencies - federal and most states - the money is getting syphoned off to go who knows where?

It is a massive rip off.

I knew an ex-IBM’er that installed a new tape drive(before everything went solid state), and the next week - it was broken. He repaired it - and the next week there was a tape crammed into it sideways. He found out that the staff(unionized), demanded pay raises and training on any “new” equipment - even though it functioned the same as the older one.

As for the IRS:
My Mom told the story of her day working for the IRS in CT. This was in the 50’s - so everything was processed by hand. First day of work, she picked up her box of documents and began going through them. A couple hours later - she finished and went to get another box.

Everyone in the office stared at her while she went back to her desk. At lunch she was taken aside by another worker and was told, “We only do 1 box of returns before lunch and 1 in the afternoon.” She quit the following day.

Government work in a nutshell.


60 posted on 06/18/2022 7:15:58 AM PDT by CTyank
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